Flexible strip for electrical connectors or the like

ABSTRACT

AN ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECTION STRIP COMPRISING A FIRST LAYER OF INSULATING MATERIAL, A PLURALITY OF PIN MEMBERS EXTENDING THROUGH THE FIRST LAYER, AND A SECOND LAYER OF INSULATING MATERIAL ADHESIVELY CONNECTED OR OTHERWISE SECURED TO THE FIRST LAYER AND SECURING THE PIN MEMBERS TO THE STRIP.

March 20, 1973 c. H. WEIDLER FLEXIBLE STRIP FOR ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS OR THE LIKE Original Filed July 29, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR.

CHAZLE: HAIUUj WE'DLER BY J L M M,

March 20, 1973 H. WEIDLER FLEXIBLE STRIP FOR ELECTRICAL CONNESTORS OR THE LIKE Original Filed July 29, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. CHAQLES CAREY WEIDLER United States Patent T 3,721,944 FLEXIBLE STRIP FOR ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS OR THE LIKE Charles Harry Weidler, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa. Continuation of abandoned application Ser. No. 748,551, July 29, 1968. This application Dec. 4, 1970, Ser.

Int. Cl. H01r 31/08 US. Cl. 339-19 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electrical interconnection strip comprising a first layer of insulating material, a plurality of pin members extending through the first layer, and a second layer of insulating material adhesively connected or otherwise secured to the first layer and securing the pin members to the strip.

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 748,551, filed July 29, 1968, and now abandoned.

This invention is directed to a strip for interconnecting electrical circuit members or the like. The strip is formed so as to permit interconnection between large numbers of female receptacles while permitting low insertion and extraction forces and allowing for misalignment due to tolerance accumulations.

Memory planes are normally connected at the present time by short jumper wires which are soldered or otherwise permanently connected to the individual contacts of the memory planes. This technique has the drawback of not permitting pluggability between memory planes and, therefore, rendering maintenance of memory planes extremely difiicult.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a means for pluggably connecting plural layers of memory planes or similar apparatus.

A further object is to provide a flexible strip of contacts for pluggably connecting electrical components.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an interconnection strip having low insertion and extraction forces.

A further object is to provide an interconnection strip having floating pins to thereby compensate for any misalignment between the apparatus to be connected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts:

FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view showing the interconnection strip of the present invention during fabrication;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the interconnection strip during insertion to connect electrical apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the interconnection strip being extracted from electrical apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the strip prior to insertion into contact receptacles;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the interconnection strip in engagement with contact receptacles; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view, partly in section, showing an alternative use for the flexible strip of the instant invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The attainments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction 3,721,944 Patented Mar. 20, 1973 with the drawings in which there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that this embodiment is not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of the invention but is given for purpose of illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principles thereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that the may modify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditions of a particular use.

The interconnection strip of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 and indicated generally at 10. The strip comprises a first layer 12 preferably formed of a suitable insulating material which is both flexible and resilient. The layer 12 receives a plurality of contact assemblies 14, each contact assembly comprising a pin portion 16 and an anchor portion 18. The contact assemblies are conveniently formed from flat stock and the pin portions may be formed by rolling the flat stock into tubular configuration. The pin portions 16 are bent at right angles to the anchor portion 18 and are inserted through the insulating material 12. The material 12 may be provided with apertures 20 through which the pin portions extend or the pin portions can be forced through the material 12 and permitted to form their own apertures during the assembly process.

A second layer of material 22 is secured to the first layer 12 and caused to overlie the anchor portions 18 of the contact assemblies. This firmly secures the contact assemblies to the strip and maintains each contact assembly electrically insulated from its adjacent contact assemblies.

The plural layers which form the flexible and resilient strip are mechanically secured by any suitable means. For example, the layers may be adhesively bonded to each other or a mechanical interlock may be used to connect the layers. The bond between the layers of the strip must,

however, be of a type which will permit flexing movement of the strip without disturbing the bond between layers.

In FIG. 2 there is a fragmentary showing of a pair of memory planes or the like 24 and 26 being interconnected by the strip 10 of the present invention. The flexible nature of the strip 10 permits the contact pins 16 to be progressively inserted into the memory planes to thereby reduce the insertion force required for the connection. As is readily apparent the insertion force would be considerably higher if all the contact pins had to be inserted in unison.

In FIG. 3 the strip 10 is shown being extracted from the memory planes 24 and 26. It can be seen in FIG. 3 that the pin members 16 orient themselves as they are being withdrawn from the contact receptacles of the memory planes. This orienting movement of the pins is permitted by the resilient nature of the strip layers to thus permit the strip to be withdrawn in a peeling fashion. The strip 10 is normally supplied in endless form and is severed to length to suit a particular use. There can, of course, be considerable tolerance buildup when large memory planes are connected and, therefore, the resilient nature of the strip permits the pin members to properly orient themselves in a manner which would not be possible if the strip layers were formed of a rigid material.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 there is shown a typical contact receptacle 28 located within the memory planes 24 and 26 and capable of receiving the pin members 16 of the interconnection strip. The contact receptacles are normally arranged in a staggered configuration and, therefore, the contact assemblies 14 of the interconnection strip are conveniently staggered to mate with the receptacles. For a complete description of one type of receptacle mateable with the interconnection strip of this invention reference 3 is made to US. application Ser. No. 603,854, filed Dec. 22, 1966, and having a common assignee with the instant application.

Turning now to FIG. 6 there is shown a strip 30 which embodies the teachings of the present invention but has a more general application than the specific strip 10 described above. The strip 30 is comprised of composite layers 32 and 34 bonded together in a suitable manner as the layers 12 and 22 previously described. Contact members 36 are regularly disposed along the strip and are mateable with receptacles 38 located within a housing or the like 40. The receptacles 38 and housing 40 may be, for example, an edge connector for a printed circuit board 42. Accordingly, the contact assemblies 36 may be electrically connected to the circuitry strips on the printed circuit board 42.

The assemblies 36 may take various forms according to the particular desired use. For example, the assemblies may be generally U-shaped as described above, in some instances they may be female receptacles, or they may be a feed through post extending on both sides of the flexible strip, the upper post being either pluggable or for wire wrap purposes. In FIG. 6, however, a still further form of assembly is shown and comprises an anchor portion 44 secured between the layers 32 and 34, the portion 44 receiving the bare end of a flexible wire conductor 46. The conductor is suitably soldered or crimped to the portion 44 to form a mechanical and electrical union therebetween. It can be seen that with this configuration the flexible strip 30 can accommodate a plurality of flexible conductors 46 for plugging into a suitable receptacle. The advantages set forth above in connection with strip 10 are, of course, also inherent in the strip 30, namely low insertion and extraction forces and ability to compensate for misalignment. The flexible conductors 46 may be wire conductors or may be flat or ribbon cable. It is thus apparent that the flexible strip principle of the present invention may be usable with various contact configurations while retaining all of the advantages which accompany an insulating housing which is flexible and resilient and formed of composite layers.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and various apparently dilferent modifications and embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only.

The invention is claimed in accordance with the following:

1. An electrical interconnection strip comprising first and second layers of flexible insulating material, said layers being of generally elongated configuration and secured to each other in overlying face-to-face relationship, and a plurality of contact assemblies carried by said layers, each said assembly comprising a pair of elongated pin portions, an anchor portion disposed between and joining said pin portions, said anchor portion being formed integrally with said pin portions from a single piece of electrically conductive material, a plurality of apertures disposed along said first layer of insulating material, said pin portions extending through said apertures and lying substantially entirely externally of said layers, said anchor portions being disposed between said layers to maintain said pin portions in position, said contact assemblies being oriented at right angles to the longitudinal extent of said strip and said anchor portions being parallel to each other and lying crosswise of said strip, each contact assembly being oifset relative to each adjacent contact assembly in staggered relationship.

2. An electrical interconnection strip as set forth in claim 1 wherein each said contact assembly is formed from a flat sheet of metal stock.

3. An electrical interconnection strip comprising first and second layers of flexible insulating material, said layers being of generally elongated configuration and secured to each other in overlying face-to-face relationship, and a plurality of contact assemblies carried by said layers, each said assembly comprising a pair of elongated pin portions, an anchor portion disposed between and joining said pin portions, said anchor portion being formed integrally with said pin portions from a single piece of electrically conductive material, a plurality of apertures disposed along said first layer of insulating material, said pin portions extending through said apertures and lying substantially entirely externally of said layers, said anchor portions being disposed between said layers to maintain said pin portions in position, said contact assemblies being oriented at right angles to the longitudinal extent of said strip and said anchor portions being parallel to each other and lying crosswise of said strip, said anchor portions being separated from each other along the length of said strip thus permitting said strip to be generally flexible along its length, said anchor portions being substantially rigid and extending across a major portion of the crosswise extent of said strip to maintain said strip generally rigid in a crosswise direction.

4. An electrical interconnection strip comprising first and second layers of flexible insulating material, said layers being of generally elongated configuration and secured to each other in overlying face-to-face relationship, and a plurality of contact assemblies carried by said layers, each said assembly comprising a pair of elongated pin portions, an anchor portion disposed between and joining said pin portions, said anchor portion being formed integrally with said pin portions from a single piece of electrically conductive material, a plurality of apertures disposed along said first layer of insulating material, said pin portions extending through said apertures and lying substantially entirely externally of said layers, said anchor portions being disposed between said layers to maintain said pin portions in position, said contact assemblies being oriented at right angles to the longitudinal extent of said strip and said anchor portions being parallel to each other and lying crosswise of said strip, each said anchor portion being substantially rigid throughout its length thus serving to maintain its integral pin portions parallel to each other during use of said strip.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,362,005 1/1968 Corns 3394 2,274,087 2/1942 Morten 17488.3 2,928,066 3/ 1960 Gordon 339198 3,320,572 5/1967 Schwartz 33917 LC FOREIGN PATENTS 645,795 11/1950 Great Britain 339-19 JOSEPH H. MCGLYNN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 33959 M 

